It's been three years since Gossip's last album, Music for Men, so how has Beth Ditto been spending her time? To a very great extent – as she tells the Observer in an interview to be published this Sunday – she's been listening to a lot of Abba. She had, she says, become intrigued with the possibilities of songs that were rigorously constructed and produced: "That's the thing about Abba. There is zero rawness. That's so incredible to me. I think I'm really infatuated with that right now because that's not the music I usually listen to. It never caught my attention before."

The new album, A Joyful Noise, the band's fifth, is produced by Brian Higgins of Xenomania, and on first listen, it sounds bold, brassy and highly accessible. But tell us what you think in the comments below.